Leads on arranging Church support for DAISY/BRF/Bookshare

Discussions relating to the accessibility of Church resources for persons with disabilities.
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randomandy
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Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:04 pm

Leads on arranging Church support for DAISY/BRF/Bookshare

#1

Post by randomandy »

A non-LDS friend of mine contacted me requesting advice on avenues of working with the Church toward developing accessible versions of the Book of Mormon (and I presume any other LDS-only materials that could be arranged.)

What she said:
[INDENT]Here at Bookshare, we have a number of versions of the Bible, the Talmud
and the Koran, but no Book of Mormon.

What we're trying do to is create a version of the Book of Mormon for people with print disabilities in DAISY (a digital talking book format that is read aloud by the computer using native TTS) and BRF (Braille Ready Format for people using braille readers). We're happy to give an accessible version back to the Church.

Our members have requested that we pursue a book conversion since they can't find an accessible version themselves. If I can't acquire digital files we will work from a printed version, but that process takes longer and can lead to a lower quality result since we rely on OCR and a volunteer to make any corrections.

More info about Bookshare and the Chafee amendment to copyright law that we function under can be found at http://www.bookshare.org/_/aboutUs/howBookshareWorks.[/INDENT]

She tried contacting the church "IP department" but was unable to obtain any response. Does anybody here have any suggestions regarding:
  • Whether the Church would encourage such a media conversion,
  • Who to contact to discuss arrangements/authorization for doing so.
I hope this could be beneficial to many members with visual impairments. Thank you for any assistance.
PhillipsCJ
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Posts: 43
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:43 pm
Location: Pleasant Grove, UT

#2

Post by PhillipsCJ »

Hello Randy-
My name is Christopher Phillips and I am the manager of Disability Services at the Church, we are doing a lot of work in this area and I would be happy to have additional conversations with anyone. Your contact can reach me at [url=mailto:disability@ldschurch.org]disability@ldschurch.org[/url] or 1-801-240-2477
randomandy
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Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:04 pm

#3

Post by randomandy »

Great. You should have received an email from her Wednesday morning.
-Andy
PhillipsCJ
New Member
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:43 pm
Location: Pleasant Grove, UT

#4

Post by PhillipsCJ »

Thanks for helping to make the connection, I've been in touch Bookshare! =)
Disability Services Manager, LDS Church
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